Images for a World to Come. Visual Practices of Ecological Activism

Abstract

Between the more interesting political phenomena of the last few decades, collective uprisings are still partially overlooked. This global spread of rebellions, regardless of their specific political motivations, seems to be characterized by a recurring set of visual practices, thus urging a reflection on the political roles of the images in contemporary politics. Following the theoretical framework recently proposed by Didi-Huberman, the essay will try to sketch some preliminary thoughts on this regard, analyzing the forms of visual agency that emerge from the collective occupation of public (and political) spaces, also trying to consider the progressive emergence of a specific emotional dynamics. After this theoretical introduction, the essay will focus on ecological and environmental activism, and specifically on the Fridays for Future’s phenomenon, discussing some of the political functions that images assume in this context.